Popular OTT video services by number of MAU South Korea 2023

The most popular over-the-top (OTT) video service in South Korea as of 2023 was Netflix, with around 11.92 million monthly active users at that time. The popularity of online video services has become a global phenomenon, becoming such a point of interest that even e-commerce businesses, such as Amazon or the South Korean Coupang launched their own video services. In line with that, the OTT video viewer penetration rate in South Korea has notably increased during the last few years.

 Netflix in Korea

Netflix started operating in South Korea as Netflix Services 2016 and has become a key player in the South Korean online video market. The value of Netflix’s investments in Korean content has continued to increase. The global popularity of Korean content as well as uptakes in new domestic subscriptions after Korean Netflix Originals releases, such as Squid Game, could be contributing factors to the increase in investments. Since Netflix generates most of its revenue from subscription fees, gaining new South Korean customers is vital, which is why Netflix might be interested in investing in Korean content creation.

Who is Netflix biggest competitor in South Korea? 

While Netflix is the most popular OTT service that operates on a Subscription-Video-on-Demand (SVoD) base, another popular video streaming application in South Korea is YouTube. YouTube offers free Advertisement-Video-on-Demand (AVOD) services to its users which can be used regardless of signing up. YouTube also launched a subscription service named YouTube Premium. Only a very small percentage of South Koreans was not familiar with YouTube at all, while the vast majority have used it before.